Every Picture Is A Memory
by Sleepyhead24
Summary: Quinn feels like something is missing at Yale. When she visits Rachel and they go home for Thanksgiving break it doesn't take her long to figure out what that something is.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Quick first chapter just to get started on this story. Its my first time writing on here. Also my first Faberry so let me know what you think. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I did then Quinn would've confessed her undying love a long time ago. **

Chapter 1

Rachel sighed and blew at the unruly piece of hair in front of her eyes as she stared down at what was supposed to be dinner for her and Quinn. She lifted her eyes to the clock to check the time once more before deciding that she was going to have to just order take out if she wanted any chance of being ready by the time her friend made it in from New Haven.

"Looks like its Thai Palace once again" She muttered to herself as she sifted through the numerous take out menus Kurt had left scattered across the counter last night.

After quickly ordering their food and realizing she only had fifteen minutes before Quinn's bus should be arriving in the city, she scampered off to take a quick shower.

Twenty- five minutes later found Rachel pulling on a pair of jeans over her still wet body, trying to dry her hair, and making her way to the door to answer the knocking that was getting more incessant by the second. All at the same time.

"I am so so sorry" She apologized profusely as she quickly pulled the door open to reveal the blonde she had been waiting on all day.

"It's about time" Quinn stated with a little grin before opening her arms. Rachel shook her head and smiled back before stepping forward to give her a brief hug.

"Sorry again" She repeated as she stepped back and pulled the blonde into the apartment. "I was a little delayed when dinner didn't turn out as expected"

Quinn's eyes darted to the kitchen where she had motioned and widened comically at the sight.

"I can see that" She chuckled. "What exactly were you trying to make?"

Rachel huffed at the amused look her friend was giving her. "Never mind that. I ordered us pad thai. Is that okay?"

"I suppose we'll find out" She answered, taking the time to sit her bag down on the floor and throw her jacket over the back of the sofa. Rachel resisted her anal urge to grab the jacket and hang it up where it belonged. She was trying to lighten up after all.

"Never had pad thai?" She questioned as she turned and walked towards the kitchen. It needed to be cleaned after the mess she had made with dinner.

"Never had anything Thai before" Quinn chuckled, startling the brunette at how close she sounded. "We are from Lima in case you've forgotten Rach" She continued as she started cleaning up the counter.

"Stop that" She reprimanded, bumping her hip against Quinn's to push her out of the way. The blonde opened her mouth to protest but was quickly cut off. "You're my guest Quinn. I won't have you cleaning up my kitchen."

"That doesn't even.." Quinn was cut off by the sound of knocking at the door.

"Would you be a doll and get that? There's money on the table by the door" She rolled her eyes but agreed anyway.

"Stop cleaning for five minutes and come eat with me. Its been months since we've really talked." Quinn stated as she sat the bag of food down on the now clean counter and started pulling stuff out.

"We talk all the time Quinn" She supplied easily, dropping her cleaning rag in the sink as she made her way over to the blonde.

"Texting doesn't count Rachel" Quinn eyed her warily before sitting her food down in front of her. "I'm just saying. I wouldn't mind hearing your voice now and then." Rachel felt her stomach flutter at the quiet admission but she quickly shook the feeling away.

"This coming from the girl who has told me on more than one occasion to shut up because I talk too much. And furthermore.."

"Rachel. Shut up. You talk too much." Rachel huffed and shook her head at the grinning blonde.

"So tell me about Yale. Is it everything you hoped it would be?" The brunette questioned after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

"Its okay. I mean the classes are great and everything, and the campus is absolutely beautiful in the fall."

"But?" Rachel questioned, sensing that the blonde was leaving something out.

"But. I don't know, you know?" She gave the blonde a confused look that let her know that she in fact did not know. "I guess I just miss having all my friends around. I miss Brittany's crazy thoughts. I miss Sam's dumb impressions. I miss Santana's snarky comebacks. I miss you.."

Rachel paused mid chew and looked up at the blonde. She slowly swallowed and wiped at the corner of her mouth before responding. "I miss you too Quinn. You know that."

The blonde stared at her for a few seconds longer before breaking eye contact and shaking her head slightly.

"Enough about me. Tell me about living your dream here in New York."

"Technically I'm not quite living my dream yet. Unless my dream included breaking up with my boyfriend and being black listed by my dance teacher within the first couple of months." Rachel pushed her food around with her fork.

"Okay. Well I know what happened with Finn, and I mean, I hate to say I told you so.." Quinn quirked her eyebrow at the glare that was quickly directed at her. "Tell me about this teacher then."

Rachel sighed and dropped her fork. "Well she basically just hates me. Which isn't all that surprising considering that most people dislike me. But then she told me that I'm not sexy enough."

"First of all, you're completely wrong about most people disliking you. They don't dislike you. They're jealous of you" Rachel crossed her arms and gave her a disbelieving look. "And second. I'm 99.9% sure that your dance teacher must be blind"

"Don't be absurd Quinn. I know my personality can be a bit abrasive. And while I've never been uncomfortable with my body, I also know that people don't view me as particularly sexy."

"Who exactly are these "people"?" Quinn questioned, slipping her patented Fabray eyebrow into place. Rachel opened her mouth to respond when the door to the apartment slid open to reveal her drenched and shivering roommate.

"It is absolutely dreadful out there. My shoes will never recover." Kurt whined as he dropped his bag by the door and kicked his ruined shoes off. "I smell Thai food. Did you order from Thai Palace again?" He questioned as he stepped up beside the counter. His mouth snapped closed as he looked between the two girls sitting across from one another. "I feel like I've interrupted something.." Kurt trailed off just as the lights flickered a few times before the power finally went out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I choose to switch careers with Rachel" Quinn chuckled as she landed on the space. Two hours of no power had made for a perfect night of board games. After being thoroughly beaten twice by Rachel at Clue, the trio had decided the next game would be Life.

"No way. Switch with Kurt. I want to be the singer." Rachel pouted out her bottom lip and Quinn thought it had to be just about the most adorable thing she'd ever seen.

"But Kurt's a teacher. His salary sucks."

"But.." The brunette turned her puppy dog eyes to Quinn and right then and there the blonde decided that this girl has never been told no in her life where that look was concerned. There was no way it was even possible.

"Ugh. Fine. Switch with me, Kurt." She groaned, watching Rachel clap her hands happily at getting her way.

As it turns out, Rachel Berry happens to be a goddess when it comes to board games. After beating them at Clue and Life, she had proceeded to also beat them at three different card games. Finally, they decided that if they wanted the diva's ego to still fit in the apartment they had better call it a night.

"I call right side of the bed" Rachel stated with a point of her finger before she turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

"I see some things never change. Still as bossy as ever." Quinn stated with a chuckle as she picked up the cards and sat them on the coffee table.

"I'm sorry to say that I don't think that one is ever going to change" Kurt responded with a little laugh as singing started coming from the bedroom. The blonde grinned and shook her head.

"Goodnight Kurt"

Quinn stayed awake late that night. It was well over an hour since she had last heard Rachel talk, which was a sign that she was either dead or she had finally fallen asleep. From the light snore that could be heard from beside her, she knew it was the latter.

She didn't know why she couldn't sleep. It wasn't that the bed was uncomfortable, or even that she felt weird being in a new place. It just felt like her mind was running a mile a minute and she couldn't keep up if she tried.

She should be happy right. She was at Yale for god's sake. Millions of kids her age would kill to be in her shoes. But for some reason, it just felt like she was missing something important. Like she was there, but not really there at all.

It took her all of 2 days in New Haven to realize that although she had went through so much bad stuff and had so many bad memories associated with Lima, it was still home, and New Haven would never be able to be home. And then it took her all of about 5 minutes after that to realize that it wasn't even Lima that was home though. It was her friends. It was her family.

So she'd spent the last few months going through the motions. She was doing fine in all of her classes. There were a few people that she talked to regularly. But the only time that she ever felt like herself is on one of the rare moments when she would get a random phone call from Brittany or Santana, or a text from Rachel.

Quinn sighed and turned her head to look at the sleeping brunette next to her. Rachel was always so goal oriented and worried about things, so it was nice to see her face so relaxed. So at peace.

"Quinn?" The blonde pulled herself out of her thoughts and locked her eyes onto Rachel's.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you still awake? Go to sleep." The brunette stated sleepily, scooting her body closer and wrapping her arm around Quinn's waist. Quinn's heart fluttered and she sighed.

"I am." She replied quietly, bringing her hand up to play with Rachel's hair. She felt her body relax and calm, and her mind stopped running so fast as she focused on the girl who was now breathing lightly against the side of her neck. As her eyes finally fluttered closed all she could think was that she knew what she was missing.

Quinn groaned and buried her face into her pillow at the clanking of pots and pans and the sound of Rachel running scales in the kitchen. After just a few seconds she realized that not even her fluffy pillow could drown out the tiny diva's vocal prowess.

The blonde pulled her hair up into a messy bun as she padded into the kitchen, stopping short to laugh at dancing girl. Rachel had obviously already been up for some time, for her hair was pulled up and she was wearing her work out clothes, sweat was still glistening on her body. Quinn licked her lips unconsciously and idly wondered if her stomach had always done that weird fluttering thing when Rachel was near.

The blonde was pulled from her thoughts when the singing suddenly stopped. "Good morning Quinn" Rachel beamed at her from her spot at the stove, which Quinn noticed right away because she had quickly snapped her eyes to a more neutral site than her chest.

The blonde felt a little blush color her cheeks and she quickly tried to hide it by walking over to her bag and pretending to get something out. "Morning Rach"

"As you can tell from the lack of smoke, I have been successful this morning in making us breakfast. Would you like an omelet?" She questioned as she held up the plate proudly to show off her work. Quinn chuckled to herself and pulled her camera from her bag before standing.

"Sure Rach. That looks really good actually." She replied with a smile as she walked over and took the plate from the brunette. Quinn was pleasantly surprised to say that not only did the food look good, it tasted really good too.

Quinn glanced up from her plate after a few minutes of eating in silence to catch sight of Rachel. She had one leg pulled up under her chin, cradling a cup of coffee and looked absolutely adorable reading the morning paper. The blonde quietly picked her camera up off the table and snapped a photo.

"Quinn Fabray! I don't even have makeup on." She fussed, giving Quinn a frown over the rim of her coffee.

"You don't need makeup Rach. You look beautiful without it." She smiled to herself as a blush covered the diva's cheeks. She opened and closed her mouth a few times to respond before settling for a quiet sigh.

"I'm going to go grab a quick shower while you finish breakfast. I won't be long." Quinn nodded her head in response and went back to eating her omelet. Just as she finished up and placed her plate in the sink there was a knock at the door. She glanced toward the bathroom where she could still hear the shower running before making her way over to pull it open.

"Can I help you?" She asked as she eyed the guy standing outside the door. He looked like he just walked out of an Abercrombie and Fitch ad and stopped at the flower shop on the way.

"Is Rachel home?" He asked, flashing her a charming smile that for some reason just made her stomach turn.

"She's busy at the moment. Would you like me to let her know you stopped by?"

"Can you just tell her Brody is here. I'm sure she'd want to see me."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed, or reviewed the story so far. I'll probably try to write another chapter tonight sometime. Just thought I would post what I had so far. I hope everyone is liking it so far. :)**

Quinn shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot and her stomach rolled uneasily at the still charming smile that was being directed at her. She nodded her head slowly before turning towards the bathroom. She heard the sound of the shower shut off just as she reached her hand up and knocked on the door.

"Rach?"

There was some shuffling on the other side of the door and the sound of something hitting the floor before the door opened a crack and Rachel's head popped out. "Yeah?"

Quinn's eyes widened momentarily at the cleavage that was well on display. The towel that she had haphazardly wrapped around herself was doing very little in the way of covering up her assets.

"There's a…" The blonde schooled her features into a look of indifference and swallowed thickly before pointing over her shoulder towards the door. "Brody is at the door for you"

Quinn's stomach dropped at the flash of excitement she saw in the brunette's eyes. It then bottomed out completely when she let out a little squeal and bit her bottom lip before responding.

"Tell him to give me ten minutes Quinn. Don't let him leave." She motioned towards the door with a panicked look on her face. "Go."

Quinn sighed and gave her best death glare to Brody as she stepped back in front of the door. "Come on in. Rachel will be out in a few minutes."

To say that the ten minute wait was uncomfortable was about the biggest understatement of the century. Brody had chosen to sit directly across from Quinn, and by the time Rachel finally emerged from the bathroom he was practically squirming in his seat. She hadn't been the HBIC of McKinley for no reason, she knew exactly how to make people shrink before her.

"This is such a surprise. You didn't tell me you were stopping by today when we talked." Rachel's face lit up as she laid eyes on not only the person waiting for her, but also the bouquet of flowers he was holding out to her. Quinn fought to keep the scowl off her face, but was pretty sure she just ended up looking like she was constipated.

"Uh Rach" She stood from her seat and wiped her hands nervously on her sleep shorts as the brunette turned her attention towards her.

"Oh right. I'm sorry, Quinn. I'd like you to meet Brody." Rachel introduced with a dazzling smile towards the guy who obviously had her affections at the moment. The blonde pursed her lips momentarily in Rachel's direction before pinning her eyes on Brody's outstretched hand.

"Right" She drew out, watching as Rachel's smile slowly slipped off her face. Brody finally took the hint and dropped his hand before clearing his throat awkwardly. "I'm gonna get dressed and go. Okay?"

"But we're supposed to spend the day together. I'll go with you" She tried, but Quinn waved her off as she headed towards her bag.

"No. It's fine Rach. You seem busy." In all honesty Quinn didn't know if she could stand to spend one more second watching the lovestruck look that the diva had on her face since she had uttered the word Brody. She slammed the door behind her as she entered the bathroom, immediately dropping her bag and leaning over the sink.

"You need to calm down Quinn. It's not like Rachel is yours or anything." She whispered to herself as she took deep calming breaths. She could hear a quiet murmuring outside followed by the sound of the front door sliding open and closed.

"Quinn?" There was trepidation and a waiver as Rachel's voice floated through the locked door.

"I'm fine Rachel."

"Can you open the door then?" Quinn took a deep breath and blew it out through her nose as she stared at her reflection for a few more seconds. Using all her willpower she quickly schooled her features back to indifference before stepping back to unlock the door.

"Hi" Quinn muttered, keeping her eyes trained on the wall behind Rachel as she opened the door.

"Are you mad at me? I honestly didn't know Brody was coming by today or I would've told him that we had plans." Quinn shook her head in denial.

"It's okay Rachel. I'm... I'm not mad at you." Rachel lifted her eyebrow and gave her a disbelieving look.

"You seemed mad a minute ago. You should know I wouldn't blow you off like that Quinn."

"I didn't want to impose. It seemed like you would rather spend time with Brody." Rachel frowned up at her before reaching out to hold her hand. Quinn felt her stomach flutter nervously.

"Is that really what you thought?" The blonde dropped her eyes ashamedly at the tone of Rachel's voice before shrugging her shoulder noncommittally. "I can see Brody any day, Quinn. It's you that I haven't seen in months."

"But you like him"

"I... I mean. I don't _not_ like him." She gesticulated with her free hand. "I don't know. He's a really nice guy. And he's cute which is always a plus."

"I have a feeling there's a but in there somewhere." She urged.

"But.. I just don't get that feeling with him." She shrugged her shoulder and ran her fingers through her still damp hair. "Maybe I'm just being stupid."

"What feeling are we talking about here?"

"I don't know. When I talk to my Dad's about how it's supposed to feel when you find the right person, it's just not how I feel around him. You're supposed to feel comfortable, like you don't have to change anything for them to want to be with you. You're supposed to feel like you can't get enough of them, and all you want is to just be around them. You know?

Quinn swallowed slowly but nodded her head anyway. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. Was that something you felt with Finn?"

"Are you kidding me, Quinn?" The blonde chuckled at the incredulous look the diva gave her. "How about you? Have you ever felt that way?"

"Uh. Yeah. I guess I have actually." Quinn cleared her throat when Rachel looked up at her expectantly. "But enough about that. What do you wanna do today?"

"Oh. Uh. Well you're the guest so technically I think it should be your decision what we do. Would you like to explore the city?" Quinn smiled at the excited look on Rachel's face as she practically bounced in place.

"How about we explore tomorrow? I was hoping today we could just hang out and catch up. I've missed you." The brunette smiled at her softly and gave her hand one last squeeze before turned and walked back into the living room.

"Fine. Fine. But don't blame me when you're all tired for our flight home on Monday morning."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"So it's a show about football?" Rachel asked, lolling her head back to stare at Quinn.

"It's loosely based around football. Yes." She responded with a shrug of her shoulders before going back to absent mindedly playing with the tiny feet in her lap. She heard the brunette let out a little giggle as she wiggled her toes against her fingers.

"That's ticklish." She murmured quietly. Quinn smirked as she let her finger trail up the center of her foot causing another little giggle to escape.

"I think I've discovered a weakness, Ms. Berry" She chuckled as Rachel squirmed her feet around.

"Pshh. Whatever. I have no weaknesses." She responded once the blonde let her fingers drop away from her feet and she settled them back in her lap comfortably. "Hey Quinn?"

"Yes Rachel?" She questioned back with a little smile, realizing that she was not going to get to watch this show so she may as well give up.

"What's your favorite color?" The diva asked excitedly as she sat up and crossed her legs. Quinn felt her breath hitch at the sudden closeness before releasing it and giving Rachel an amused look.

"Green. What's yours?" She watched as the diva's face scrunched up adorably.

"Green? I would've thought it was yellow." She mumbled thoughtfully. "Mine is still pink. Although, I do sometimes find myself leaning toward purple or yellow. It depends on my mood really.

"Of course it does." The blonde chuckled and shook her head. Nothing could ever be that simple with Rachel.

"Did I tell you that Daddy called this morning?" Quinn shook her head in the negative prompting her to continue. "He said he ran into your mom at the market, and that she went on and on about her precious Quinnie coming home."

"Ugh. My mom and that nickname."

"She's so proud of you Quinn. And I happen to think that nickname is adorable."

"It's not adorable. It's embarrassing." Quinn complained. "How would you feel if your dads called you their special nickname in front of all your friends?"

"Well I didn't have friends until recently so I'm not sure. I don't think I'd be embarrassed about it though." Quinn felt a pang of guilt that the brunette admitted such a thing so nonchalantly.

"What do your dads call you anyway?" She watched as a faint blush colored the diva's cheeks and she mumbled something quietly. "What was that Rach? I couldn't hear you over the sound of your embarrassment."

She huffed out a sigh and glared playfully before responding. "I said our little gold star. Happy now?"

"Very." Quinn couldn't stop the smile that slipped onto her face or the little chuckle that she let out making Rachel slap her arm.

"I hate you." She mumbled as she scooted closer and placed her legs over the blonde's lap again. Quinn resisted the temptation of touching the bare legs being presented to her and settled on picking at the couch with her restless fingers.

"Drama queen." She retorted playfully. Rachel rolled her eyes, but she could see the corner of her mouth turn up in a smile before she laid her head down on her shoulder and sighed.

"Quinn?" She heard after a few minutes of silence. She tensed as the diva absent mindedly ran her fingers up and down her bare arm.

"Hmm?"

"Can I call you Quinnie?" The blonde glanced down to see the playful glint in Rachel's eye and shook her head.

"Absolutely not." She nudged her shoulder against the brunette's as she started laughing. She sighed quietly when Rachel settled her head back down on her shoulder before slowly moving her head over to lay on top.

"Well isn't this the most adorable thing I've ever seen." She heard, breaking her out of her comfortable little bubble as her eyes fluttered open and settled on Kurt standing in front of the couch.

"What time is it?" She mumbled tiredly, trying to bring her hand up to wipe at her eyes. Unfortunately, all she ended up doing was dumping Rachel's head off of her shoulder and jostling her awake.

"It's a quarter after five. And good morning sleeping beauty. You have a little drool there." Kurt pointed to the corner of his mouth and then chuckled as both girl's hands shot up to wipe self-consciously.

"You're a jerk." Rachel retorted as she stood up and smacked her best friend. "And I'm starving. Tell me you at least brought food." She looked at him expectantly, only to let out a groan when he shook his head and shrugged.

"I'll make something." Quinn said as she stood from the couch and stretched her arms over her head. When she turned around she would've sworn that Rachel's eyes darted up from where her ass had just been, but she quickly buried that away as wishful thinking.

"You're our guest Quinn.."

"And as your guest I know you wouldn't subject me to your cooking." She joked, lifting her eyebrow and grinning at the little huff the diva let out. "I'll give you cooking lessons. It'll be fun." Quinn's stomach flipped nervously as Rachel squealed and quickly grabbed her hand to pull her into the kitchen.

After rummaging through the cabinets and the fridge for a few minutes the girls decided they had the ingredients and chicken garlic pasta and settled on that for dinner.

"You know I forgot to ask you last night." She sat some garlic and a knife down in front of Rachel on the cutting board. "When did you stop being vegan? Here I was all prepared with vegan recipes and I don't even need them."

"Oh. Umm. Well I guess I just decided it was part of the new Rachel." She answered with a shrug as she started haphazardly chopping the garlic. Quinn chuckled as she placed her hand over the brunette's to stop her before stepping up behind her to guide her into chopping it evenly.

"Well for the record. I happened to like the old Rachel a lot." She felt the hand under hers still and her stomach fluttered as Rachel leaned back against her lightly.

"Thank you." She breathed out and then went back to chopping at the garlic the way Quinn had guided her. She let her hand slide off of Rachel's and released a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Anytime."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Can I get a café mocha and a soy latte please?" Quinn looked over her shoulder to where Rachel was sitting in the corner. She was texting away on her phone and her stomach flipped as the brunette lifted her eyes and gave her a shy smile. It was moments like these that the blonde thought that maybe having feelings for her best friend wasn't the craziest thing in the world.

She and Rachel had been traipsing around the city all morning, or to be more honest, Quinn had been dragged around by the tiny diva. Everywhere from the her favorite rehearsal room on campus, to her favorite bookstore, to her favorite coffee shop, which is where Quinn now found herself.

"Hello?" The blonde broke out of her thoughts and tore her eyes away from Rachel to turn to the obviously annoyed barista behind the counter. "Your order is ready." She gave a tight smile to the girl as she rudely pushed the coffee across the counter and turned back around. She couldn't blame her for getting annoyed, once she entered Rachel land in her head everything else seemed to disappear.

Rachel placed her phone down on the table and smiled as Quinn made her way over and sat her coffee down in front of her. "Thank you. I told you I didn't need anything though. I've already had like three cups of coffee this morning." She said as the blonde pulled out the seat next to her and sat down.

"Which explains the endless supply of energy that you always have." The blonde quipped with a teasing grin before taking a sip of her drink. "Stop pretending that you don't want it." She reached out and pushed the cup a little closer to the diva.

Rachel rolled her eyes playfully before finally picking her drink up to take a sip. Quinn squirmed in her seat and crossed her legs at the small moan Rachel released. "Mmm.. How did you know?"

Quinn cleared her throat and took another quick drink before responding. "Know what?" She asked, willing her voice to lose the sudden huskiness it had decided to take on. She mentally slapped herself, because honestly, could she not control her body for five minutes around this girl?

"My drink." She stated with a little grin that made her dimples stand out. If there was one thing Quinn loved about Rachel, it was that little grin that she seemed to reserve just for her. "I dated Finn for two years and he always had to ask me what to get."

Quinn snorted at the comparison between her and their mutual oaf of an ex. "Yes, well. It really doesn't take much to remember more than Finn Hudson." The diva pinned her with a reprimanding stare that she immediately brushed off before continuing. "I just happened to remember from the few times the glee club got coffee together in high school." She shrugged as if to say it's really not a big deal.

"What did you have for breakfast last Monday?" Quinn's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion at the question, trying to decide if the diva was trying to trick her and trap her in some way with a question like that.

"I don't know. Something from the cafeteria?" She eyed the brunette warily as she tried to figure out just what was going on in that pretty head of hers. She fidgeted nervously as Rachel stared at her for a few seconds before dropping her eyes to where she was running her finger around the rim of her coffee cup.

"So you remember my drink order from two years ago, but you can't remember what you had for breakfast last week?" Quinn rolled her eyes at the diva's deduction and tried to make it look like she didn't know not only what kind of coffee she liked to order, but also that her favorite scone was apple, and she had worn a brand new pea coat her fathers had gotten her for Hannukah on the day they went out for coffee.

"That's completely different." She defended, sitting up straighter in her chair and clenching her hand around her coffee cup. "That day was just more memorable." She could feel herself slightly panicking inside at what the brunette was trying to implicate her with. It's not like she could know that she had basically been crushing on her since freshman year.

"Oh really? And what was so memorable about a coffee outing with the glee club?" Rachel questioned with that sexy smirk that Quinn absolutely loved and hated at the same time. The blonde sighed as she thought about her answer and how she could get herself out of this mess without giving too much away.

"I don't know. I was happy I guess." She stated slowly with a shrug of her shoulders. "We were all together and getting along. It was a beautiful winter day and I had spent the whole day in the park taking pictures. You were there and you looked super cute in your pea coat." Quinn trailed off as she realized what she had said last before snapping her mouth shut completely. Her stomach clenched at the surprised little gasp the diva let out.

"You thought I looked cute?" Quinn tried her hardest to fight the blush off her face and swallow her nervousness as she lifted her eyes to stare at the suddenly shy brunette in front of her.

"You're Rachel Berry. You always look cute." She stated with finality, as if it was a fact that Rachel should know by now. Dark chocolate eyes locked with hazel and the brunette practically blinded Quinn with her smile at the admission.

"You told me you hated that pea coat if I remember correctly." Rachel kept her eyes locked with the blonde's as she lifted her coffee up and took a long drink. Quinn licked her lips and saw the diva's eyes dart down briefly to track the movement.

"Yeah, well. I was a bitch."

* * *

"So when are you going to tell her?" Kurt asked as he plopped down onto the couch beside her. Quinn's eyes darted to the bathroom door to make sure Rachel was still inside before clearing her throat and turning her eyes back to her camera.

"Tell who, what? She questioned back, keeping her eyes locked on the screen of her camera. A black and white picture of Rachel cooking last night stared back at her, but she couldn't find it in herself to focus on the details while her mind was basically screaming at her.

"You go to Yale, Quinn. You and I both know you're not dumb." He stated, reaching his hand out to pat her on the thigh. Quinn tensed under his touch and slowly lowered her camera down to her lap. She bit her lip nervously before clearing her throat.

"How?" She choked out past the lump that had seemed to lodge itself in her throat within the last few seconds. Kurt gives her thigh a light squeeze which only succeeds in dimming her nerves for a few seconds before she's back to almost hyperventilating.

"You're a lot of things, Quinn. But subtle is not one of them I'm afraid." He states with a small smile that Quinn catches out of the corner of her eye. "I wouldn't be too worried though. Despite what Santana might say, it's actually me that has the best gaydar on the east coast." He continues and even Quinn cant' stop the small chuckle that escapes her. She can just see Santana's face if she ever heard that.

"Do you think.." She trails off nervously as she hears the shower turn off in the bathroom. "I mean. Does Rachel know?" She asked, lowering her voice to where it could barely be heard in the quiet apartment.

"Would that be so bad?" He questioned with a sad smile. Quinn swallowed around the lump that had dissipated some before answering.

"What if she rejects me? Or hates me?" She asks desperately, not even attempting to wipe away the tears that had finally slipped out and made their way down her cheeks. "I can't take that Kurt. I can't lose her."

"It's Rachel. Have you ever seen her hate anyone?" She finally wiped at her eyes and let out a sigh. "Besides.." Kurt lifted his hand from her thigh and pressed a button on her camera. "That doesn't exactly look one-sided." He stated with finality before patting her thigh again as he stood from the couch and walked out of the room.

Quinn wiped at her eyes again to catch the last few tears that had escaped as she stared down at the picture on the screen. It was a picture from yesterday when they were cooking, right after Rachel had somehow burnt her thumb on the hot skillet and then pouted until Quinn fixed it. She didn't focus on the obvious feelings being directed at the brunette from herself, or even her own lips resting over the burn on her thumb. It was the look on Rachel's face that caught her attention. The look of pure adoration.. and dare she say it.. Love?

"Why are you crying?" Hazel eyes shot up to meet the concerned brown ones staring back at her, and she honestly didn't know how she had never seen it before. That look had always been there. She was just too blind to see it.


End file.
